RebeccaYouSee

Greetings Fodorites!

Rather than compose a rambling text of my trip (which was wholy based on recommendations and input from the forums), I'd like to share my photos.

I wrote captions for them all.
There's a lot of them, but seeing is believing!

First was Arezzo area for Joust of the Saracens (ruined by people pushing us into a metal bar to get a better view...)
Next was driving the Gottard Pass to Berne Switzerland,
then was DRILANDEPUNT, the adult-sized maze where Germany/Belgium/Netherlands meet,

Next was NURBURGRING, the former F1 racetrack, pure exhilleration!

Next was rainy Eindhoven. The Amsterdam shots are forthcoming (on a separate memory stick)

Please enjoy my photos, I can be emailed if you have any questions!

She takes a while to load, grab a cup of something good and dive in! The second link is the one that works!!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slidesho...6_381376874603

RebeccaYouSee

AND,

to finish them off, here's the 2nd load of images. I added captions to each so you could follow along...

If you can't see the pictures in this email, click here to see it in a web browser:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...localeid=en_US

afterall

Haven't browsed your pix. I'm more interested in why the title of your post focuses on the words "MINI cooper".

Now why is that?

Otzi

The two luckiest people in the World! A Mini Cooper S and driving it through Europe. I am completley envious. It looks like you had a wonderful time. I guess you had the right car for trying to drive and park in Amsterdam.

Now it's back to reality, eh?

Otzi

Now you got me interested.

For your next trip to the Ring:

http://www.nuerburgring.de/

This site has hotels, restaurants and packages as well as driving schools if you're really into it.

bobthenavigator

I wanted to see some of your pics but was overwhelmed when I saw 652 images. I have learned that you need to edit to no more than 80 of your best shots to hold attention from others. The old slide trays had it right--80 is good.

Maggi

Hi Rebecca, I tend to agree with Bob. Too many photos and too small to peruse through them easily. I was drawn to your post cause my husband loves Minis, but I didn't spot too many photos of it. That said, I think a photo journal is an excellent idea! Have you thought of doing it on a blog? They are really easy to set up.

RebeccaYouSee

To clarify, we bought a 2008 MINI Cooper S (lightning blue, black racing stripes, all packages) from a military car reseller, that works with different manufacturers.

We took the MINI on her mega car ride, thru Tuscany, Bern, Nurburgring, Drilandepunt, Amsterdam, Bavaria, Oktoberfest then home. Over 4,500 miles (miles) on the car now!

I've only been home for 4 days, as time passes I will re-edit the mega album into the categories based on destinations (listed above)

600+ seems like a lot and it is, but this album is for friends, family, folks on my MINI cooper owners list, SCA History group list, and finally, for you wonderful folks on Fodors, so the album is "all things to all people" right now.

Will post bite-sized links once I get back to work and can waste time tooling around online! tehe!

ribeirasacra

Arrr so this is not a real mini then!!!!!

RebeccaYouSee

A 2008 R56 Mini Cooper S is a "real" mini. It's not a classic, but I never said it was. In fact, I'd never drive 4,600 miles up and down Europe in a car that small. Would be gruelling.

Anyways, here's a link to the photos of other MINIs we saw along the way, and a few of our car in the bavarian and swiss alps.

http://www.northamericanmotoring.com...d.php?t=155504

afterall

OooHH!! Lucky you! I'm not big on cars - if it has four wheels, is cheap to run and gets me from A to B, that'll do. BUT .. the mini cooper is an exception. I've wanted one ever since they first came out and the re-released version (yes, I know it's been around a while now) does look a lot bigger.

Not an optical illusion then, Rebecca? Do explain more about the military car reseller. How does that work?

Off to look at the pix now.

Cheers.

bilboburgler

Confused is this a real Mini cooper or some sort of BMW remake. If the latter you ought to be able to get some sort of subsidy.

Sorry, but you can see how excited I was that it was a real Mini having spent time with some guys just back from the "Rome or bust trip" which takes place every September (with top hats and miniskirts the lot)

RebeccaYouSee

info on military car sales:
you save the sales tax of wherever you might be stationed if you purchase your car (any car, Ford, MINI, GM etc). through Pentagon car sales or Exchange New car sales. not too much savings, but sales tax can be a lot depending on where you are.

Its a 2008 MINI, so its still small, but substantially larger than the original classic.

Anyways, it was a fun trip and the photos are there if anyone else is thinking about Arezzo's Joust, or a drive thru Alps, or Nurburgring.